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In the 60 years that KCCI has been on the air, it has had just three main male anchors: Russ Van Dyke, Paul Rhodes and Kevin Cooney.

Cooney has been here for 33 years.

Anchorman, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is a person who represents and coordinates a live television or radio program involving other contributors.

Anchorman, as defined by KCCI-TV, is Kevin Cooney, the believable face with the trustworthy voice.

"It's the voice of authority. It's the voice of friendship, the voice of compassion when need be,” said Michael Gartner. “He’s just an expert at what he does.”

Gartner is the former Des Moines Register president, Wall Street Journal editor, NBC News President. He is the current Iowa Cubs owner and a Cooney family cohort.

For 33 years Kevin Cooney has sat in the anchor seat night after night, bringing the news to Central Iowa.

"The average lifespan of a TV anchorman is 7 1/2 years. He's been there 700 1/2,” Gartner said.

And what a career Cooney has had.

In 1991, he traveled to Germany to cover the release of fellow Iowa State University journalism classmate Terry Anderson and Tom Sutherland after their release from captivity in Lebanon.

In 1993, he worked for 14 straight hours, some of them live on the street, when the city of Des Moines lost its drinking water during the devastating flood.

He was in the White House interviewing Bill Clinton in 1995 when news of the Oklahoma City bombing hit. Cooney was the first reporter to ask President Clinton his reaction.

He has also interviewed Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Then there's a pretty cool career-capper – Cooney’s role as a moderator for the Democratic debate at Drake University in Des Moines on Saturday.

"Kevin has this reputation for standards. He's got a reputation for innovation and he's also got an ethics reputation of holding news to the highest standard,” said Dr. Michael Bugeja, director of Iowa State University’s Greenlee School of Journalism, Cooney’s alma mater.

"Kevin in particular in his work on our advisory council was instrumental in our curriculum and making sure our curriculum was up to date,” Bugeja said.

He also said Cooney has always been very good on the big stories, but it's what he has done on a daily basis for more than three decades that impresses him most.

“It’s appearing on KCCI night after night when there's hard news, good news, soft news or none, and finding the story behind the story and captivating us as listeners,” Bugeja said.